Ireland Minister Conor Lenihan supports eEngagement, Awareness

Recently, Conor Lenihan T.D., the Minister of State with special responsibility for the Knowledge Society along with Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Emer Costello celebrated the achievement of 1,500 people from a wide range of backgrounds completing training under the BenefIT Scheme which is operated by the Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources. The utilisation of computers and other Information and Communication Technologies by people who previously had a low level of use or none are some of the factors that the scheme promotes.

Implementation of a novel training programme is to take place as one of the largest projects under the scheme Dublin Employment Pact (DEP), together with Dublin City Council and Fastrack to IT (FIT). The DEP programme received BenefIT funding of €390,000 supplemented by project partners - in particular Dublin City Council - giving a total budget of over €500,000. The graduates including older people (some in their 80s), people with disabilities, people with little formal education, unemployed people and late adopters of ICTs from Dublin and the Mid East were trained through 47 local organisations.